Use this applet to explore some issues related to generation, demand, and transmission of electricity. When the applet opens, a coal powered generator and a natural gas generator are available to deliver electricity to three communities, but only the coal generator is producing. The wind farm is not yet connected to the system. As the demand from the communities changes over a 24-hour period, the generators adjust their power production. Fuel costs and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per hour for each of the generators is shown. The total peak demand for the communities is set to be 750 MW. The Peak community power demand slider allows you to change the total peak demand. There are also sliders that change the wind farm capacity and the capacity of the transmission line between substation 1 and substation 2. There are buttons for plotting graphs that show costs, emissions, available wind power, branch flow, load and generation.

Resource Type:

Interactive (Lessons that include an interactive component, generally Java, JavaScript, Flash, or a TI program.), Lesson (Lessons that don't include any sort of interactive component.)